Special meeting in Santa Maria to consider ICE facility

The Santa Maria City Council is holding a special meeting Thursday at 3:00 p.m. at the Fairpark to consider plans for a federal immigration facility which has sparked outrage among many of the city's residents.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—or ICE as the federal agency is called—wants to move its regional processing operations to a new facility in Santa Maria. The planning commission gave its approval for the location back in February in the midst of large community protests.

Thursday afternoon the council is scheduled to hear from a wide variety of affected parties including the public. Members will then vote on whether to deny the appeals and move forward with the plans, or grant the appeals and halt the project.

Those filing the appeals against the planning commission's recommendations include; the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, and neighbors to the planned location.